Jack’s Winning Words 8/6/13
“Positive anything is better than negative nothing.”  (Elbert Hubbard)  I can’t find it now, but I once had a book in my library titled, “You Can If You Think You Can.”  It helped lead me in the direction of optimistic thinking.  I must confess that I don’t always look at situations positively, but I try.  A Mayo Clinic study shows that having a positive attitude lowers your stress level and improves relationships.  I’ll buy that!    ;-)  Jack

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  Is it possible, do you think, to see the "negative" (or the destructive seed and fruit of something) without beng negative? Or, is this mannerism the real art form of Grace? It reminds me of the saying that although the idea is simple, the application is not necessarily easy. ====JACK:  The free will that is part of our heritage means that life is always involved with choice.  In order to choose the positive, there has to be the negative.  For every yes, there is a no.  Grace comes into the picture when we make wrong choices and come to regret them.

 FROM TARMART REV:  I have a book in my library too that deals with the same . . . it is called, The Little Red Train Engine" . . . "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!" Once a year I'm asked to read to our preschoolers . . . I enjoy reading it every time!!====JACK:  No wonder that being a Railroad Chaplain is part of your resume.

 FROM SC IN ILLINOIS:  I just think of the "Little Engine That Could" and I tell myself I think I can, I think I can.====JACK:  The railroad right of way in our community has become a walking/bike trail.  It will eventually connect up with other communities and be a trail across the state from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron.  In your city you can still hear the sound of trains and see them once in a while.

 FROM MY LAWYER:  How timely!!!  Nice thoughts for the day. ====JACK:  Sometimes we have to work to be positive amid negativity....but it's worth it.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  So very true..I'm thankful that God gave me an optimistic nature, which some simply do not have!  As Football coach Lou Holtz famously said, "Never tell your problems to anyone. Twenty percent don't care, and the other 80 percent are glad you have them."  Ha.  "you gotta accent the positive, eliminate the negative" as the old song goes.  I think you have to be intentional about positive thinking! It may sometimes be an effort!====JACK:  Coaches often have to rev up their teams with positive statements.  A friend of mine in a former football coach and has compiled a book of these quotes which.  It's titled, Winning Words of Champions.

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Great words today.  Although most of the time I have been able to keep a smile on my face, I too succumb to melancholy once in awhile.  I will also confess my problems are so little compared to some I am ashamed to even pout about them.  So, it's a smile most of the time!====JACK:  I like the song, "Let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day."  Since we're supposed to have some thunder showers later in the day, it will be a good song to sing.

 FROM DOCTOR JUDY:  I was just about to rename your book: The Little Engine That Could. "I think I can, I think I can.....". Tarmart Rev beat me to it.====JACK:  All of my readers (like you) were children once...and still remember some of the stories told to them.  I've read, "Unless you become as little children you won't enter the Kingdom of G-d."  You can draw your own conclusion from  that.

 FROM ANONYMOUS:  I'm not sure how this fits in, but I'm compelled to share it...at least the source. Sunday's issue of The New York Times...Education Life pages 18 and 19....and especially the poem MotherFather by Travis Reginal. I found it to be one of he most touching heart rending poems I've read. Positive anything IS better!